How much protein do I need?
A practical starting target for most people lifting weights is about 0.7 to 1.0 grams of protein per pound of goal bodyweight per day. If you weigh 180 pounds and are reasonably lean, that usually means roughly 125 to 180 grams per day. If you are substantially overweight, use goal bodyweight or estimated lean body mass rather than current bodyweight, or the number can become pointlessly high.
During a cut, protein often belongs toward the higher end of the range. Higher protein helps preserve lean mass, supports training recovery, and makes dieting easier by improving satiety. Lean, resistance-trained people in a calorie deficit may need especially high protein compared with sedentary minimums because they are trying to lose fat while keeping muscle.
During muscle gain or maintenance, protein still matters, but more is not always better. Once protein is high enough to support training and muscle protein synthesis, extra grams are mostly just calories that could also have come from carbohydrates or dietary fat. If very high protein crowds out carbs and your training suffers, the diet may be less effective, even though the protein number looks impressive.
A simple structure works well: Include a clear protein source at most meals. For many people, that means 25 to 50 grams of protein per meal across three to five meals, depending on body size and total target. Even distribution is not magic, but it creates repeated opportunities to stimulate muscle protein synthesis, control hunger, and avoid the common pattern of eating almost no protein all day and trying to make up for it at dinner.
Protein quality matters too. Lean meats, poultry, fish, eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, whey, casein, and many soy foods are easy high-quality options. Plant-based diets can work, but they usually require more attention to total protein, protein quality, calories, and food volume because some plant proteins are less concentrated or lower in one or more indispensable amino acids.
The practical default is measured: Set a daily target, distribute it across meals, and adjust based on hunger, training, digestion, and results. If you are regularly missing the target, start by adding one protein anchor to the meal where protein is currently weakest. If you are already far above the target and struggling with food volume, digestion, or training energy, pull protein down to a useful range and spend those calories elsewhere.
If you have kidney disease or another medical condition requiring protein restriction, follow your clinician's guidance rather than generic fitness targets.